Viral to Hinterland

It takes vision to create a campaign. And going the viral way takes more than just vision. It takes heart, mind and soul. No wonder it is a tricky affair and failure is a dark shadow.

“I was recently watching the trailers for the upcoming movie ‘I love you, Beth Cooper’, about a valedictorian who confesses his love for the most popular girl in school during his graduation speech and this inspired me to make a confession of my own. Given that this is the last day of high school and not knowing what can happen, I cannot let this opportunity just pass by. So here it goes…I love you, Jake Minor.” 

Kenya Meija was hired by 20^th Century Fox, paid $1800, to close her valedictory address at Los Angeles’s Alexander Hamilton High School. Fox hired consultants to videotape her speech, keeping the production values low so as to make it look authentic. The video was then posted on YouTube. Hardly anyone saw the clip, and the same was the movie. It took in just $13.5 million in its first three weeks, which was $6 million less the production cost. 

Marketing: Hitting Sixes On Uncharted Terrain

The unabashed show of money, glamor, glitz, and power called the “Indian Premier League” had the entire nation in frenzy, with the recently held player auction. The show was filled with unexpected twists and turns, with many unheralded players hitting the jackpot, and many experienced players being shown the door by franchises. The event attracted the attention of the entire cricketing fraternity across the globe with many foreign stars in the fray for IPL spots and the big bucks that accompany them.

 

The show was an expression of the growing power of cricket in the global sports arena. Already, the IPL is an event of global popularity, and interest levels are growing exponentially with each passing year. Also, the CL-T20 is also growing as a brand with each passing year. These are great times indeed for the game, and India is leading the way forward in revolutionizing the sport. The leading IPL stars would receive pay equivalent to some of the top stars in the English Premier League. These are interesting times for cricket, and if properly marketed and branded, IPL and

Creating Ripples Through Experience

To increase sales, the company needs to satisfy the consumer needs in a superior fashion. These days, companies are trying to sell the experience rather than the product in order to boost the satisfaction. If the consumer purchases a durable product then it takes a long time before he again buys any similar product. By selling the experience along with the product, the companies are making sure that consumer sells this experience to other consumers, hence creating the ripple effect.

The consumers are willing to pay a premium for experience. Consider homemade coffee which hardly costs you Rs. 2, if you buy it from local coffee shop then it will cost you around Rs. 5 which is reasonable still, but if you buy it at Cafe Coffee Day, Barista or Star-bucks it will cost you in excess of Rs. 30. So basically consumer willingly pays 500% more than the local coffee shop, also he takes the experience with him and spreads a word about these places. Similarly, no person goes to Disneyland only for the rides and goodies they provide there, but to have an experience with their closed ones and Disneyland provides them exactly that.

The Same Ice Cream

There is a world beyond what we see. Especially, when what we see is controlled by other beings. Development is happening in all the fields known to man. The same is the case with the field of psychology, neurology and, what may seem as a non-related field, marketing. Marketers are increasingly calling psychologists for help. Psychologists are studying the response of human beings to various things, i.e. stimuli, with help of neurologists and neurological equipments. One finding of this effort, which has given marketers one more tool to do their business, is the discovery of mirror neurons and its behavioral implications. A mirror neuron is a neuron that fires up both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another. Thus, the neuron "mirrors" the behavior of the other, as though the observer were itself acting. Such neurons have been directly observed in primates, humans and other species including birds. In humans, brain activity consistent with that of mirror neurons has been found. More recently Christian Keysers and colleagues have shown that, in both humans and monkeys, the mirror system also responds to the sound of actions.

A study involving macaques (year 1992), a type of monkey, had given a hint long ago to scientists that something like mirror neurons exists in humans also. The researchers did some experiments and found out that the monkeys had a tendency to repeat some particular actions being done by the researchers. The following photographs depict such experiments.

 

Did you notice that when someone talks to you very slowly or whispers something to you, you also lower your voice or start whispering while speaking to that person? Do you have any explanation for why you imitate when someone whispers?  Why is it that when a child watches another child having ice cream, he also wants the same kind of ice cream? Did you ever notice that when we go to a place with a certain accent prevalent in language, we tend to use the same accent after some time? It was scientifically found that the culprit for such actions in humans was mirror neurons. Some scientists say that it may be a method of learning employed by the brain while others say this may be a method of connecting to other beings of same or different species. Both the arguments are supported by evidences. It is a method of learning in the sense we learn by observing and trying to do the same thing. Also, it may be one of the methods employed by the brain to make it more acceptable in a group. These findings are being effectively used by marketers.

To take this finding further, it was found that when we see something happening to somebody, our neurons which would fire up when we would do that thing ourselves, fire up. That is, just by listening to someone’s experience or by seeing someone do something, our brain tends to experience it virtually. This fact is being used by marketers unknowingly from a very long period. The simplest example would be of the mannequins which are at an apparel store. When a woman sees a mannequin with a set of clothing looking so beautiful and attractive, the woman’s brain tells her that she would look the same if she wears those cloths. Her brain loses the rational thinking about her own body structure. It is overridden by the emotions caused by the mirror neurons. Thus, when she buys that same pair of clothing she is not only buying the cloths but also she is buying that image. That is the reason marketers always want to associate their brand with some relevant attractive image.

The concept is being consciously used in the industry now-a-days. Observe the following videos:

They are iPod advertisements. The peculiar feature of these advertisements is the thing which is highlighted in it. The colour of the headphones: White. Before this, all the headphones were in dark colours. This is one of the ads which tried to use the mirror neurons concept in its marketing. The moment we see the white, posh “things” falling down from the ears of people, going into their pockets, our mirror neurons light up and we experience what we think, they must be experiencing: in this advertisement they are having enjoying the music in such a fashion that they are not concerned about anything else. The result: astounding sales of iPods.

The advertisements where “envy” is used to create a sense of achievement in potential customers is one example of mirror neurons concept being used in marketing. It is very effective as a marketing tool if we assume that people do same things to connect to other people as humans are social beings.

There are numerous examples of application of this concept in marketing and that too which are successful. From the above examples, we see that marketing is no longer a trial and error phenomenon now. It is as scientific and with explanations as any hardcore science e.g. physics. With such interdisciplinary applications of concepts and findings, we are definitely looking towards more sophisticated efforts for making us buy. So, next time you want to have something which your friend or colleague or neighbor just bought, or you just happen to repeat a dance step being done by one of your friends, you can blame it on the mirror neurons.


Kushal Lokhande
Marque
IIM Rohtak

Consumer Empowered

For a layman, marketing has been perennially defined as the function of business to sell a product to a consumer. As businesses grew, it was realised by the new age thinkers that the definition and function of marketing goes way beyond this bounded thought which only cared for a customer as a resource to generate revenue and the business as a mechanism to create product. The new wave of marketers thought of marketing as being focussed on value creation and its delivery to the end consumer. A major focus was on improving customer relationship. The growing importance of retaining customers rather than procuring new ones reiterated the crucial concept of Customer Relationship Management which led to the establishment of Customer Lifetime Value as a criterion to check the profitability of business.

With the advent of pro-consumer thinking rather than pro-sales line of thought, the methods of value delivery have seen certain fundamental changes. Earlier, price was assumed to be the sole criterion for demand of a product, but now minute segmentation of consumers based on different values delivered to different groups of customers by the same product indicate the pockets of demand irrespective of the prices. Add on services have assumed paramount importance. The consumer today is well educated and can be highly demanding and the companies have to deliver on their promise. 

The IT age has empowered the consumer enormously. The customer is well informed due to “connectivity” with the world, has the option of getting advised from users of different products through internet or television or other media. He or she also has the choice to lambast a product or a company for not giving the desired results. The power to voice an opinion publicly has put an impetus on the companies to perform in every fashion and has forced the transformation of laid back tortoises into agile hares. The marketing plans of firms have moved from tele-advertising and print media to digital age and e-marketing. Telephones and internet are the new points of contact.

These means of communication offer new opportunities for customer relationship management. Companies have the ability to get in touch with on-the-move consumers. Also, since internet and mobile have become a way of life for today’s consumer, 24 hour contact is possible. Intelligent usage of digital media will mark the success of new businesses. The attempt is also to make it easy for the customer to get in touch with the company whenever and wherever he or she requires. The rationale, thus, is to provide customer satisfaction through better and faster access which in turn leads to better and faster service. The seller’s concept of marketing, hence, is out of the window.

All the exercise today is based on the realization that retaining a customer is more sensible based on the lifetime value a long term customer provides and, thus, impacts the overall profitability of the business. Relationship marketing is the buzzword today. Companies are lining up at the doors of consumers to provide better products and value added service. The choice set for a consumer has exploded. Additional services are used to charm the customer and the customer can always negotiate for even more!

Some companies have hence moved on, to creating new ways of communicating the value to the consumer. One of the fastest growing channels is Experiential Marketing. The idea behind experiential marketing is to make the customer feel connected with the product. The connection has to be emotional as well as rational. If the consumer is able to relate to the product, a sale will occur. This form of marketing appeals to the senses of the consumer. 

Instead of just focussing on informing the consumer about the product, experiential marketing campaigns allow an interaction between the product and the consumer. The consumer experiences the product and its benefits. This ability to experience and then buying gives confidence to the consumer and makes him/her understand and judge the product or service better.

Mass media has certain limitations, especially in personalizing a product’s benefit knowledge as per the requirement of individuals. Experiencing the product/service, thus, opens new avenues for marketing managers. So, Absolut Vodka gave away sample bottles of their new product in clubs in Australia to spread the word and more importantly, the taste. Hershey on the other hand had Hershey’s Kisses candy mobile marketing campaign’s 25 foot vehicle running through 75 cities a year to promote its candy. Nike gives you a choice to “design your own shoes”.

Such campaigns have suddenly given the market a life of its own. Absorbing the customer in an experience and establishing a positive association are now become paramount to a successful sale. Consumer has a real-time touch with the product, so the touch points become important. If the company messes up in creating a worthwhile experience, the consumer and the sale will vanish in thin air.

The path to tread for companies is challenging but highly lucrative. The evolution is on and will become more and more innovative with the passage of time. And as the consumer gains more bargaining power and becomes more demanding, he would be the real winner. 

Shardul Bahuguna

Marque

IIM Rohtak